Yesterday's Adventure
by Both Artemis and Athena
Summary: What do you say when you run into a friend from another time in your life, one you never thought you'd see again? "Small world," maybe. But when Steve Rogers finds his way back to a place that may have changed his life, he sees two young women that couldn't possibly still be there. The world just isn't that small. Is it? (Will include all Avengers)
1. Chapter 1

**So, this was co-written with a friend of mine. Drop us a line if you like it and if not then tell us how we can make it better. We don't own the Avengers, which kind of sucks when I think about it. I got the idea for this when listening to the Toby Keith song 'Hope on the Rocks', and I have no doubt that I will be further influenced by country songs in the future. Hopefully, my friend will be able to keep this sounding like, I'm a drunk and/or I'm a full-out redneck (which I am, but the story doesn't need to sound like it). So anyways, here it is: Yesterday's Adventure.**

"_Where do they go?  
They come here,  
To drown in their sorrows,  
And cry in their beer.  
They're in need  
Of a mindbender  
I'm a bartender.  
At the end of the day,  
I'm all they've got  
Hope on the rocks."_

"You're going to fall. You're going to fall right through the ceiling, and crack your head open, and I'm going to have to take you to the damn hospital. And Jo they don't let you have alcohol in the hospital, so you'd go completely monkey-nuts crazy. So you should really get down from there to avoid another hospital-induced dry spell."

"I'm not gonna fall, Rosie."

"Yes you are! If you don't get down from there I'm coming up after you. And I'll push you down myself."

"Oh go fly a kite," came a voice from the rickety crawlspace above a polished black wooden bar. Rosie Bolton, a young woman of 23, stared up at the currently-shaking tiles that made up the celling of her bar. Her best friend, Jolene Waters, was attempting to locate the Fourth of July decorations that had been hidden away for years. She was so desperate to support the troops that she had volunteered to climb into the seldom-used, somewhat creepy space. The part that was freaking Rosie out was that neither of them had been up there since the bar had been built, which was longer ago than one may think.

"There's a bug up here!" Jolene called cheerfully. Rosie let her head fall onto the bar with a quiet _thump_. Sometimes, Jolene made Rosie want to beat her head on a wall. There was just no helping her.

She straightened up and grabbed a rag from the sink behind her so that she could start wiping down the bar. Rain was falling in a dreary haze outside, and the girls had agreed that they probably would see few other patrons tonight. She grinned at her reflection when it appeared. Light orange hair framed her face, the tight curls just barely brushing the bar in a length that would just brush the bottom of her shoulder blades. Watery, light blue eyes blinked back at her several shades darker than they normally looked. She was pretty tall for how old she looked. Pale, porcelain skin appeared almost grey on the black surface. She wasn't exceedingly thin, but she was far from fat, or even thick for that matter. Curves accentuated her tall frame, set off by the green dress she had on.

Rosie jumped and looked up when the door opened, allowing the sound of the rain inside. A man walked in and her eyes grew wide. Even if he wasn't quite her type, he was nice to look at. Short blonde hair fell over his forehead, and blue eyes stared rather distractedly ahead of him. Not to mention the muscles showing plainly under the wet t-shirt. "Well hey there," she said, recovering from the initial shock. "Welcome to the (Back Alley? Hope on the Rocks or something else?). What can I getcha?"

"Oh, uh..." he apparently hadn't noticed her when he first came in. "I don't know. The good stuff, I guess."

Rosie looked at him for a moment. After all her experience bartending, she knew exactly why he was in here. "You can't find what you're looking for here," she said knowingly.

He laughed dryly. "Am I that obvious?" he asked.

"No, no," she said. "It's a bartender thing. You see so many of every problem in the books that you can pick 'em out, easy. I'm Rosie, by the way. You in here to get drunk over your woes about her?"

"Steve Rogers. Well, Miss Rosie, what do you suggest I drink? I'd like to point out that I physically can't get drunk," the man said.

"What? Why can't you-" she was cut off by a loud crash as a large box fell through an open hole in the celling. American flags of several sizes and various red, white, and blue paraphernalia could be seen coming out of the top. It was followed by a string of American flag pennants such as one would see along a window and several Uncle Sam hats.

"Geronimo!" A young woman jumped down from the celling, landing in a crouch amongst the decorations. Needless to say, that was the _last _thing Steve expected. Dust clung to blonde hair, which fell in waves to the small of her back. She was definitely on the small side, probably around five feet tall and also very thin. Her skin was pale, from what he could see, and at the moment covered with smears of dust and grime. The most striking thing about her, Steve decided, was the color of her eyes. They were a deep, cerulean blue that he imagined would be associated with the deep ocean. It may have been the dust surrounding them that made them pop so much, but they were definitely not a common color.

The woman stood up with a bounce and grinned at Rosie. "I found them!" she proclaimed, waving an arm at the things scattered around her. When she noticed Steve, her eyes bugged out. "Oh! Hello," she said.

Steve smiled and lifted a hand in greeting. The girl walked around to the back of the bar, where Rosie handed her a damp towel and pointed her at the mirror over the sink. "Did Rosie here get you anything?" She asked while she whipped at her face. "It's on the house for the boys fightin' for us." She turned around with the dust mostly gone. As it turned out, she had a smattering of freckles across her face that made her look decidedly Irish.

"How did you know I was military?" Steve asked. The blonde pointed to his shirt, and he belatedly realized that he was wearing his Army tee.

"And besides," she added, leaning on her forearms on the bar. "Everyone knows who you are, Cap."

"Oh, yeah, that," Steve said. "Did I hear your name was Jo?" he asked.

"So what if it is?" she asked.

Steve looked taken aback at her sudden hostility. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense, I just-"

The blonde, Jo, laughed. "My name's actually Jolene," she said.

"She just likes to mess with people," Rosie said, throwing Jolene an exasperated look. Steve nodded, deciding once again that he would never understand women.

"Rosie!" Jolene snapped. Rosie turned to her with a look that just screamed 'you did _not_ just shout at me.' Jolene pointed at him. "Get the man a drink! He obviously needs one. I mean, what person comes to the bar, in the rain, at," she glanced at the clock on the wall above them, "Twelve-thirty, and doesn't want to get drunk off their rocker?" By this point she wasn't even looking at them spare a glance over her shoulder while she rinsed off some of the decorations.

Rosie smirked. "You ready for this one, Jo?" she asked with a wink at Steve. Jolene turned back to them and tilted her head in confusion.

"What?" she asked, pushing a blonde lock out of her face.

"I can't get drunk," Steve said. For the first time, he found some amusement in the situation. Jolene just stared at him, mouth open the slightest bit. After she blinked once, Rosie couldn't hold it in any longer and just burst out laughing. Steve tried to stifle his own laughter, to the same effect.

"Oh you poor man," Jolene said, finally recovering. "And you're in here for girl problems? You're doomed."

It was Steve's turn to stare at her. "Really?" he said, throwing his arms out in the universal 'what the hell?' gesture. "I thought you said I wasn't obvious!"

"You're not, I swear!" Rosie promised. "But what you're dealing with here is the original mind-gamer. She can tell you what your problem is, tell you how long you've had it, and fairly guess what your thinking at any given moment."

"That so?" Steve asked.

"You're having trouble figuring out how to ask a girl on a date," Jolene stated.

Rosie handed him a bottle of soda. "See?" she asked.

Steve just shook his head. "How did you know that?"

Jolene and Rosie shared a look. The former apparently decided to take pity on him. "Scary good memory," she said, tapping her temple. "I've seen a lot and remember what it all looks like. It's become a game between the two of us. Can I figure out the problem and can Rosie here fix it."

Steve nodded. "And you two are sisters?" he asked. Both girls laughed at that.

"Captain Rogers, do we look like sisters?" Jolene asked, placing one hand on her hip.

"We're just best friends," Rosie said. "We've known each other for a long time."

Steve nodded, understanding the idea. "I see. And you're the only staff here?"

"We own the place," Rosie stated proudly.

"Really?" Steve asked, his surprise obvious.

Jolene crossed her arms. "It's legal, if that's what you're implying," she said, glaring at him.

Steve gave her a calculating look, and decided that she was messing with him again. "That's not what I meant at all," he said. "It's just that you both seem rather young for owning a bar, and it's not really a woman's trade."

"A woman's trade?" Rosie smirked. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Nothing! I just mean that two pretty dames like you seem like you would be married or at least in a relationship, and certainly not owning a bar," Steve tried again.

"Please, you think I could convince anyone to marry her?" Rosie asked, pointing at Jolene.

"Hey!" Jolene glared at her. "I'm out of here!" She walked back over toward the decorations.

"So, who's this girl that's got you stumped?"

"Her name's Peggy," he told her. She smirked at the way his eyes took on a wistful, faraway look. "She's the most amazing girl. But I think I really screwed up."

"He kissed someone else, didn't he?" Jolene called from where she had begun stringing the pennants across the front window.

"Hush Jo!" Rosie called back. She looked at Steve, who looked just a bit mortified. Her jaw dropped. "You didn't."

"He did," Jolene said.

"I didn't!" Steve said defensively. "At least, not exactly."

"Oh really?"

"She kissed me and I guess I got...caught up in the moment," Steve said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's what they all say," Jolene said. Steve laid his head in his hand as Rosie threw a dirty rag over it, aiming for Jolene. "I bet'cha it was a hot blonde, too!"

"Oh will you just shut up!" Rosie shouted. She shook her head at Steve. "Alright, Spunky, so you want to ask out Miss Peggy, but she's seen you kissing another girl. What was her reaction to said episode?"

"Well, she broke up the kiss, because she actually saw it. I was actually supposed to go to a meeting, and she was trying to find me. And then she may or may not have attempted to shoot me four times in the chest. I mean, I was holding an indestructible shield, and she knew it. I think that she was just trying to test the shield. But she was pretty mad," Steve said with a wince.

Rosie only blinked at him. Jolene started to make a quip, but Rosie held up a hand before she could get a word out. "Alright. The good news is that she's jealous. The bad news is that she saw you kiss another girl. But I think you can makeup for it. Just ask if she'd like to go out dancing one night; there's no way a night out dancing can't turn romantic."

"I don't know how to dance," Steve said.

Rosie rolled her eyes. "I bet you five bucks she'll offer to teach you," she said.

"I don't know. It's just, every time I try to ask her out, I get tongue-tied," Steve said. "I'm not good at talking to women; even Peggy's said it."

"Was this before or after she witnessed you kissing another woman? Because if it was right after I'm gonna bet you said something stupid," Jolene said. She walked back over to them and sat down on the barstool next to Steve. "But she's already proved that she's way into you with the whole jealousy thing, so now it's your turn. Just walk up to her and say 'Peggy, I have no idea how to dance, but do you want to go dancing with me this Saturday?' And, ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, you've got yourself a date with a pretty girl."

Steve looked at her skeptically. "Are you sure it'll-"

"Of course I'm sure!" Jolene said.

"You just have to be confident, Steve," Rosie agreed. "You can do it. Besides, if what you've said is anything to go by, there's no way she'll turn you down." She grinned at him. "In fact, bring her by here if you'd like. It doesn't look it right now, but this place gets hoppin' on Saturday nights."

Steve nodded again. "Alright. I think I will," he said, beginning to smile.

"Hell yeah you will!" Jolene said.

"Jo," Rosie sighed, shaking her head. "Language."

"Oh, sorry, Rosie," Jolene said. "Let me rephrase that. F-"

"Jo!" Rosie shrieked, knowing what the smaller girl was about to say._ "That's enough out of you!"_

Jolene just shrugged. Steve chuckled at the antics, then saw something that made him do a double take. The clock read almost quarter 'til two.

"Wow, it got late fast!" He said. "Sure don't feel like it's been that long."

Rosie threw a frantic look to Jolene, and the blonde gave her a stern look. Steve looked confused at the interaction.

"Well, time flies when you're having fun and all," Rosie said quickly.

"And time always passes faster in a bar anyway," Jolene commented.

"Well, I'd better get going," Steve said, standing up. "Thank you both so much for your help."

"Any time, hon," Rosie said. "So, will we see you on Saturday?" She added hopefully.

"Sure will," Steve said. Rosie grinned.

"Alright, bye Steve!" Rosie said.

"Good night Rosie, Jo," Steve finished, nodding at each of them and walking out the door. They watched his retreating form and began the chores for closing up shop.

"Mm-mm-mm," Jolene hummed. "That is a fine man."

"Jo! He's about to have a girlfriend," Rosie exclaimed, lightly punching her in the arm.

"Yeah, I know. I think it's cute."

"I don't think I've ever heard you say the word cute," Rosie gasped.

Jolene shook her head. "Yeah yeah yeah. I have a feeling, though, that we're not going to see him for a long time."

"What do you mean, Jo? He said he would come back Saturday with Peggy."

"I don't know, Rosie. But something big is gonna happen to us because of him," Jolene said. "I know it."


	2. Chapter 2

**So, here we are, back again. It was entirely too long between updates, I know. Hopefully after this it should even out some and be a bit more frequent. We own nothing that you vaguely recognize from outside this story, unfortunately. Thank you so much to our first reviewer, Aileen Autarkeia, for her amazing support! Well, as a heads up, this chapter is in present time, but I'm actually going to repeat that in about two lines or so, so yeah, that's it. Not a lot of Rosie and Jo in this chapter, though.**

"_All the ones you used to know,  
Don't drop in and say hello,  
but you ask yourself,  
I know you ask yourself,_

_Where do they go?  
They come here…"_

Steve Rogers was not a heavy drinker. There was just no point to it for him.

Tony Stark, however, drank alcohol like it was V8 fruit juice and someone was slapping him upside the head. And so, he had a tendency to drag the others out barhopping with him. Which explained why the Avengers, plus Pepper Potts, were walking down a crowded New York street, all wearing sunglasses and hats or wigs. Steve had to wonder if he was the only one who couldn't see through the sunglasses because it was night time. He had been practically force-fed multiple drinks that night, but still wasn't the slightest bit inebriated. Clint and Tony were both definitely exceptionally drunk, and Bruce was actually a bit tipsy, a fact that was worrying Steve. Natasha was Russian; they were going to have to find better bars than they had been to, bars with much stronger drinks, for them to have any effect. Pepper had suspiciously turned down any drink offers, claiming to be the designated driver, and no one pointed out that they were walking. By the time he decided to argue the point, Tony had already had several shots and could not seem to remember the fact that they hadn't taken a car. Thor had effectively disappeared around an hour ago, but Steve wasn't very worried. Sure, he kept an eye out, but the Asgardian was adapting easily to the culture of Earth and was in the same boat as Natasha as far as being drunk went; he was used to much stronger alcohol. Still, he wondered where the giant of a man(ish) had run off to.

Steve's thoughts were interrupted when Tony slammed into his side, then kept running past him, following Clint to the next bar. He could swear that he heard one of them yelling something about blue hedgehogs attacking ducks, which was all but lost on him. As annoying as it was, he knew it had probably only happened because Tony was a bit slap-happy. A laugh behind him made him turn to the team's two resident redheads, who were walking arm-in-arm behind him.

"What are we going to do with them?" Pepper asked, shaking her head at her boyfriend's antics.

Natasha pursed her lips in mild annoyance at Clint's behavior. "At least yours isn't the one screaming about Sonic the hedgehog eating his waterfowl," she said flatly.

Steve shook his head, taking a moment to look around. The area seemed familiar to him somehow, but he just chalked it up to having been a place he had been beat up once or twice. A small storefront window, lined with American flag pennants, caught his eye, for it too had a distinct familiarity to it. It was almost as if he had been here before. But it was the man sitting at a bar inside the window drew his attention more so than the bar itself. He stared in disbelief, because there sat Thor, sitting at a bar and laughing as if someone had told him the best joke in the world. "Would you look at that," he said, pointing.

"Well I'll be," Bruce said, standing next to him. "Looks like our wayward Asgardian had found us again. You'd better go get him, we'll follow the other two and make sure they don't burn down the city."

"Alright," Steve said. He started across the street, but stopped short when he saw the neon sign in the front window, advertising the words "Yesterday's Adventure." A broad grin spread across his face. So that was why the place seemed familiar. He honestly couldn't believe that it had lasted this long. "Hey Bruce!" he shouted. "When you catch up to them, go ahead and bring them back here. I have to show you guys something!"

Bruce waved a hand over his head, but didn't look back at Steve. The good captain shook his head in amusement and kept walking. He pushed open the door, hearing the same jingle of bells that he had heard over 70 years ago. Looking around, he was surprised to see that almost everything in the room was exactly the same as it was when he last entered. The same black teak bar dominated one wall, surrounded by barstools that looked exactly the same as the wooden ones from the past. Even the pictures on the walls were the same, but if he had paid them a bit more attention, he would have realized that photographs that were once black and white or sepia toned were now in full color. But that wasn't what caught his eye.

What caught his eye were the two young women talking to Thor. All three were laughing gleefully. When they heard the door open, all three turned to him.

"Friend Steve! There you are!" Thor boomed, but he wasn't paying attention. He was staring between the two wide-eyed girls behind the bar. The blond, though almost a head shorter than her companion, stepped in front of the other woman, taking a defensive stance.

"You need to go," she said, eyes hard. "Now."


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, then, I'm back again with another update for this silly story, and hopefully this chapter will be when everything makes sense. We've decided that there's not a snowballs chance in hell that we own anything recognizable here, but then we learned that Hell is actually a city in Norway that freezes over all the time, so we need a new metaphor if anyone's interested. Also, for the life of me, I couldn't find a song for this chapter. Damn it…**

All Steve could do was stare. Because standing in front of him were Jolene and Rosie, owners of the Yesterday's Adventure, and neither looked a day older than 25.

Bruce entered the next bar he saw, knowing that Tony and Clint, and then by association Natasha and Pepper, would have done the same. The first thing he saw was Pepper laughing and shaking her head. Next to her stood Natasha, who was holding up her phone as if recording something. And then he heard two familiar voices shouting, "Happy birthday, dear uh... so-and-so! Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuu."

And there were Clint and Tony, sitting at the bar, singing happy birthday. To no one.

"Hey, Pepper, Natasha!" Bruce called. "Steve wants to show us something he found. How whipped are those two?" He nodded at Tony and Clint. The two women gave him matching smirks and slowly turned to look at their men. When they saw, the two dunks' faces dropped, and they practically sobered up in a heartbeat. Natasha jerked a thumb over her shoulder, and the boys scrambled off their barstools and out the door. Unfortunately, when they got outside, Clint and Tony started up their song again.

"It's not anyone's birthday," Pepper said, loudly enough that it got their attention. Both looked at her wide-eyed, their faces devastated.

"So, it's our...unbirthday?" Clint asked. His entire demeanor changed, and he grinned at Tony.

"No! That's not what I-" But Pepper was too late to stop it.

"AAAAA very merry unbirthday!"  
"To me?"  
"To you!"

They continued the song as Bruce led them back to the small bar where he and Steve had seen Thor. Seeing Steve now inside as well, he opened the door and held it as everyone walked in.

Tony frowned. "This place is emp-ty!" he said. He looked around him, noticing all the pictures on the walls and the patriotic décor. "Ugh! Leave it to Steve to find an old people bar!"

"Dang it," Clint whined.

"Guys," Natasha stated. "Knock it off." Her voice, threateningly low, was enough to shut them up and bring sobriety for another few brief seconds. She pointed to Steve, who was still frozen in shock.

"Friend Steve," Thor said, obnoxiously loud for the small room. "What is troubling you so? And Lady Jolene, why must he leave? I assure you, the Captain bears no ill will."

The shorter, blond bartender, apparently Jolene, looked between all of them. "I'm sorry, we're closed," she said. "You really need to go."

"The sign out front says you're open until two," Clint said. "It's not even midnight." He may have had a few too many, but he still didn't miss a thing.

"So?" she challenged. "It's our bar, we have a right to close it when we feel like it!"

"Look, Sweetheart, you're obviously hiding something, and it obviously has to do with Captain Freeze-Frame over here, so can we please just move this along to the point when you start begging us not to tell anyone?" Tony said. She jumped forward and Pepper was entirely convinced that the little woman was going to come over the bar and murder her fiancé. Tony backed up and the other bartender, the redhead, grabbed Jolene by her waist, keeping her restrained.

"Jo here doesn't beg, Mr. Stark, and we're not hiding anything," she said. Jolene stopped fighting to maim the billionaire in question. "We'll tell you everything, but you have to swear not to tell anyone."

"Rosie!" Jolene shrieked in shock.

"The gigs up, Jo. It's not like we haven't done this before. Besides, we can trust them," the taller of the two, Rosie, said.

"How do you know?" Jolene said.

"I can feel it," Rosie hissed. Jolene fell silent, looking at Rosie with a degree of reluctant acceptance. Whatever that sentence meant, it was important. Rosie turned and faced the group of people staring at her and her friend, but her eyes fell on Steve. "I'm sorry," she said, and that was enough to shock him out of whatever state he was in.

"How?" he demanded, his immediate feelings being anger and confusion. He stepped forward, towards them, and Rosie stepped back cautiously. Jolene was immediately between the two.

"We're about to tell you, but you need to calm down, and then you need to swear on your _life_ that you will never tell a soul," she growled, obviously displeased with this plan of action. Steve looked suspicious, but stepped back in acquiescence.

"Well?" Pepper asked. "Who are you?"

Before either Rosie or Jolene cut in, Steve answered. "They're Rosie and Jolene, I never learned their last names. But they own this bar, Yesterday's Adventure. They're the bartenders here, and apparently they have been since WWII. Because that's when I came in here, and nothing has changed."

"The pictures are in color now," Jolene grumbled off-handedly, slightly offended. She turned to the sink and began angrily cleaning glasses, purposefully alienating herself from the conversation.

"We've been the owners of this bar since way before that, Steve," Rosie said, ignoring her. "We're mutants, as people call them these days. Timebenders. We can move through time, and neither of us has aged since we turned 25. This bar has been our hideout, of sorts, since..." she trailed off, trying to remember the exact year they had established the bar.

"1870. It was the same year Henry and John established Standard Oil," Jolene commented without turning around.

"Henry and John? As in, Henry Flagler and John D. Rockefeller?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. They came in at least twice a week before they left," Rosie said. "You'd be surprised how many people we know."

"Is this important to the backstory or can we continue?" Natasha asked impatiently.

"It's not, we're moving on," Rosie said. "We've operated this bar since 1870, like Jolene said. Since then, it's changed very little. But staying in one place has had its drawbacks. It's made us more vulnerable, in a sense. People who want to hurt us have an easier time finding us. But with the guard dog over there," she said, pointing at Jolene, "They usually let us alone after a while. When they don't, we fall off the grid for a year or two. We always come back, though. You can count on that."

Jolene threw down the glass and rag in hands, causing a loud shattering noise. "Rosalie, shut the hell _up!" _She shouted, startling them all. Rosie looked offended at first, but when Jolene turned around, she saw the fury and plain hurt across her face, and her own face fell. "Yes, I know that you have a feeling that we can trust them, but we just met them, and you literally just told them our entire freaking plans. For all we know, they could be with _her_. They're the Avengers, for Christ's sake, they work for _SHIELD_. She's a freaking SHIELD associate or whatever! When are you going to wake up? They could sell us out to her before we could even turn around, and this time we'd have to leave and not come back."

"They're the Avengers?" Rosie gasped. Jolene just stared at her.

"Well there goes the disguise," Clint muttered, taking off his hat. The rest of the team followed suit, removing various hats and glasses. "How do you know what SHIELD is, and who are you talking about?"

"You don't need to know!" Jolene snapped. "You need to leave."

Rosie shook her head. "Jo, I know we can trust them," she said again, making a placating motion with her hands. "Just...just listen. Do you guys know Emma Frost?" she asked them, looking at them each in turn.

"Yes," Natasha answered after a period of silence. She had finally put together what the girls were implying. "And I'm guessing you met her before she joined the X-Men."

"She wanted us to join some Massachusetts School or something. It was all mutants, she told us. Well, it was. And she wanted to train us to kill, and told us that humans were the bane of the Earth, and all that. And then she tried to separate us. She had some master take-over-the-world plan, where she wanted Rosie to go into the future and try to control it, and she wanted me to go change the past. That's when we ran," Jolene spat. "We had to keep moving and changing names for years. She just kept after us. Finally, we went to the past and hid there for a year. It almost killed us; we can't stay in the wrong time for too long. But she finally gave up after that."

They all remained silent, knowing what Emma had done in the past. "Look," Tony said, breaking the tension. "Emma's not all bad anymore. I won't try to convince you otherwise, because I honestly am not sure of that myself. But I do know that we won't be selling anyone out to her anytime soon. SHIELD does not officially trust her, and we sure as hell don't yet."

Rosie turned back to Jolene. "See?" she said. "They're on our side. They're not gonna tell!"

Natasha stepped forward. "We didn't say that," she said calmly. Both girls stared at her, then at the others, who all looked like they were agreeing. "Look, we need to tell SHIELD about you. It's the only way to keep you safe."

"No," Jolene said, fire lighting in her eyes. "You will not tell anyone that we're here, and if you do, so help me God I will-"

"Ma'am," Steve said, interrupting her and bringing the full force of her fury down on him.

"What?" she snapped.

"We do need to tell SHIELD. But I can guarantee that they will leave you alone. Until you agree to be part of a team, you won't be placed on one. SHIELD will give you a lot of options, and one of them will be to stay right here and keep doing what you're doing. Should you choose that, SHIELD will offer you full protection. Just because we've had alliances with Emma Frost in the past, doesn't mean that we automatically sell out every mutant we see to her. Normally, we offer mutants a place at the Xavier School, but you're both too old for that, even in physical standards. But we do need to inform SHIELD of your whereabouts. It will be safer for everyone in the long run," he said. His voice was cold and unfeeling. Jolene met his eyes, and while she saw no caring or kindness there, she also saw no hatred or deceit. It took her a long time to look away, and even longer than that to have a silent conversation with Rosie. Finally, her shoulders slumped. Rosie stepped forward, smiling softly at them.

"Alright," she said. "We'll agree to you telling SHIELD. But if Emma Frost shows up at our door, I'm not going to keep Jo off of you."

"Thank you," Steve said flatly. A heavy tension fell over the room, and everyone looked awkwardly between each other.

Tony clapped his hands. "Well, now that we're all sure no one's going to kill anyone, how about some drinks?" he asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Rosie grinned brightly, glad to have a familiar trade off of bar tender/patron actions.

"Our pleasure," she said. "What can I get'cha? We've got pretty much anything you can think of on the small scale, but not anything real fancy."

"Define fancy," Tony said, wrinkling his nose.

"I dunno, fancy. What do you want? I'll tell you if we have it," Rosie said.

"Do you have any form of Macallan scotch?" Tony asked.

"Oh, it's gonna be a long night," drawled Jolene.

**Well, that's it for now. See ya later, drop us a line on what you think and all.**

**BA&A**


End file.
